ANATOMY CHAIR

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26750, 20 April 1948, Page 4

ANATOMY CHAIR

SINGAPORE APPOINTMENT DR A. R. ELLIS’S NEW POST "Dr Alan Richmond Ellis, senior lecturer in anatomy at the Otago Medical School, has received word from the British Secretary of State, Mr Creech Jones, of his appointment to the chair of anatomy, King Edward VII Medical School, Singapore. In July of last year Dr Elils was interviewed by a selection committee consisting of the Governor-General, Sir Bernard Freyberg, and Sir James Elliott, of Wellington. Dr Ellis explained to a Daily Times reporter yesterday that the appointment was to have been made through the Colonial Office, but was subsequently made through the Interuniversity Council for Higher Education in the Colonies. This alteration in

procedure resulted from the decision to proceed with the establishment of the new University of Malaya which will incorporate Raffles College and the King Edward VII Medical School. The present medical school, which is to be rebuilt, deals with approximately the same number of students as the Otago Medical School. Dr Ellis, who has been on the staff of the anatomy department for 10 years, worked first under Professor W. P. Garland, until the latter’s retirement, and then with Professor W. E. Adams. “ it is a great tribute to Professor Garland,” Dr Ellis said, “that of the 35 or so chairs of anatomy in the British Empire, three of them are occupied by New Zealanders trained by him.” Professor Archibald Durward has the chair at Leeds University, Professor W. E. Adams succeeded Dr Garland, and Dr Ellis is now to go to Singapore. Others who began their academic careers on the staff of the department of anatomy under Professor Garland are Professor R. Aitken. the recently appointed Vice-Chancellor. Professor Denny Brown, a former Biel Memorial Fellow, who has been appointed to the chair of neurology at Havard. Dr Owen Thomas, who is now at Oxford, is the second Biel Memorial Fellow from the department of anatomy. Of the various chairs now held by former graduates of the Otago Medical School, Dr Ellis is the first to be appointed directly from Otago. Dr Ellis, who expects to leave Dunedin in July or August, has taken a keen interest in the film society movement, being president of the New Zealand Film Institute and president of the Dunedin Film Society. He has been associated with many University activities, and was president for some years of the swimming club.